Lockdown
by ImNoSupermanGer
Summary: The Avengers found themselves in a desperate war for the city of New York. Tony Stark tried to stall Loki, but ended up being controlled by the lunatic Norse god. In the end, he doesn't have another choice but to turn against his friends. They didn't know if the could protect the innocent and Tony himself from a god-controlled Iron Man. The battle will end but when? At what cost?
1. Prologue

**I just want to say that I'm not a native speaker. Thus, you'll probably find some mistakes but I'll do my best to avoid them.**

* * *

 **Prologue**

'How will your friends have time for me when they're so busy fighting you?' Loki breathed hatefully while approaching the man in front of him carefully.

Tony Stark locked eyes with him. He took an enjoying nip of his freshly poured scotch. The ice-cubes in the polished glass clinked gently with every new sip.

The black-haired god raised the sceptre threateningly high - it pointed directly at Tony's chest - and laid the dangerously spiky end on it. But to Loki's amazement, he felt an unnaturally strong resistance, something which definitely wasn't human skin. As the rod touched his victim's shirt, it caused an almost inaudible clank.

Loki contracted his eyebrows to an obviously confused expression; his opposite silently looked down at the bluely glowing sceptre. The black-haired snatched it and whipped it yet again at the allegedly tender spot. Nothing happened.

Startled, Tony glanced up while Loki was busy wondering about what was happening, 'That usually works.'

Being in cold fury and regardless of any consequences, the Norse god made a last attempt and smashed his weapon at Tony's chest, who already was bragging to himself, 'Well, performance issues, it's not uncommon. One out of five-'

The billionaire's dark-blue shirt burst; tiny cracks explosively spread out inside the thin glass-layer which protected his heart and at last... it shattered. Little splinters fell down, onto the shiny tile floor, as Tony desperately gasped for air. Loki's mouth warped into a sardonic grin when he observed the body of his enemy convulsing in agony. His emerald eyes sparkled at the sight of this.

Suddenly, even the son of Laufey felt a strange tingling in his hand and arm. Before he and Tony could react, an enormous flash shot out of the mind stone, which was hidden in the sceptre. Both of them were hurled through the air, flying several metres before Loki landed on a huge leather-couch and Tony on a barstool, which immediately shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.

The Norse god was the first to pick himself up; the cosy sofa had considerably soften his fall. He quickly picked up his weapon, which he wasn't able to hold on to during his flight. However, the metal of the handle was surprisingly hot. But he didn't know if it was because he was hallucinating or if the little explosion was the cause.

Gentle sunlight shone through the Stark Tower's enormous window-wall at the on the floor laying billionaire. It revealed a blood-smeared arm and a shredded shirt, which logo was destroyed beyond recognition. Tony laid heavily breathing on shavings of expensive mahogany, whose sharp edges drilled their lines in his flesh.

He slowly opened his eyes, groaning, he placed one hand on the no longer clean floor. He pushed himself upwards with all might, thus raising his upper body and looking directly at Loki.

His chest rose and fell with an insane speed; a hole, outlined by sharp-edged splinters, was now there, where a round bullet-proof glass had been. From there a sky-blue, nearly whitely, light radiated. Which, at direct sight, was almost blindingly bright.

A similarly blue glow pulled itself alongside Tony's neck to his head and let his eyes light up briefly. During this, Loki carefully walked up to the genius, who was clearly put out of action. The second he had recognised a distinct light-blue flare, he delightfully whispered, 'What a pleasant twist.'


	2. Crash

**Crash**

'Now, _Metal Man_ , rise,' the trickster ordered as he stood in close vicinity to Tony Stark, who was not fully conscious yet. Loki wasn't able to suppress a faint smile. He asked himself how a measly human assumed he could compete with a mighty god.

A stream of blood flowed down Tony's arm and dyed the tiles around him dark-red. He stared at a pair of black boots; blinking repetitively, he was wondering what he saw and thought in disbelief. He automatically did what he was told and tried to stand up, fiercely groaning like an old man. A sharp pain rushed through his right arm, followed by his whole body. It made him flinch. He quickly clung to the nearest barstool to keep himself from plummeting to the ground again.

He stood there, violently panting, on two trembling legs and thought about if the whole building was shaking or just himself. Loki on the other hand was practically unhurt, apparently gods were much more resistant when it comes to sheer violence. Tony was so heavily breathing that he believed an anvil laid on his lungs, crushing them like it was nothing. Yet slowly, he was able to collect himself; his quivering, tired body calmed down bit by bit.

Cold beads of sweat ran down his temples, some of them dripped into his normalised dark-brown eyes. Even so, you couldn't overlook a particular lightly blue sheen which sphered his eyes. Tony's curious glance moved upwards, along the black-green uniform of his opposite. When it finally reached the face, he recognised a horribly spiteful grin.

'What are you without your armour?' Loki asked deeply amused by the state of his newest ally, 'Nothing more than a puny human who is not even worth looking at me. But you are a lucky one; you, too, will soon discover the truth. Unlike your treacherous friend Barton, however, you will be of use a while longer.'

Tony perfectly understood what Loki told him but he couldn't bring his body to respond the way he wanted it to: Punching Reindeer Games so hardly in the face that his wacky grin flies away with him.

The billionaire laid a hand protectively on the briskly bleeding wound. The remaining scraps of his shirt had already sucked themselves full with the thick red liquid and appeared pitch-black. With pain-driven facial features, he teeth-gnashingly waited for Loki's next sentences.

'Tell me, what are those odd wristbands you're wearing? If I recall correctly, you don't possess them fairly long,' he asked suspicious of the cunning Stark. Tony mentally shouted at himself, 'Shut up. Just shut up!' But no matter how much he struggled, how fiercely he tried and how often he mentally slapped himself in the face, he wasn't powerful enough to hinder his body from revealing the truth, 'Oh these? They are part of a little gadget of mine: The Mark VII. Well actually, it's genius,' he proudly tapped at one of the silver bangles, 'I can call for the suit with these things and it instantly rushes to my help. Like magic – only better because I made it. However, the whole thing is still in a test phase, so I-'

'The test phase ends now,' the Norse god interrupted before forcefully grabbing Tony by the arm and flinging him towards a huge window. The glass burst immediately with an intensely loud bang into uncountably many tiny pieces as his back touched its smooth surface. Tony flew unbraked towards pedestrian area. 'J-Jarvis, now would be great,' he yelled between agitated screams.

Loki heard muffled noises, which seemed to originate from the wall behind him. Before he could detect where precisely the clicking and cracking was coming from, a blazing red object shot out of exactly this wall. Just with much difficulty and – literally – inhumane reflexes, he was able to dodge the canonball-like missile. It followed Tony on his way into the great depth, surpassing him with surprising ease. He noticed how the quick red lasers located his wristbands and his newest suit cocooned him.

In the last second, he was able to break his fall and not land on the mass of people, who had observed his drop in shocked bewilderment. A young woman, who was on her way with a pink baby buggy, was screaming her lungs out after swiftly leaning forward to protect her child as she witnessed a human robot hurtling towards her. But Tony had reacted quickly enough to shoot upwards _before_ smashing into the tarmac. He flung upwards, all 93 stories, with an insanely high tempo. He safely landed in front of the window he was thrown out of.

'Impressive... for your Midgardian technology' was the answer for an until then arrogantly smiling Tony about his not really voluntary stunt. 'Party pooper,' he growled.

'Tell me,' Loki mumbled while he circled the self-proclaimed genius with neatly folded hands behind his back, 'what is your greatest wish?' He was as cool and calm as the frostiest place on Jotunheim. Gentle, soft and almost pleasant was the sound of his voice.

Tony didn't hesitate and answered straight away, 'I just want to protect the people. That's the only thing I ever wanted.'

'You would do anything to achieve it, am I correct?' Loki continued. He knew exactly what he needed to say to persuade not only the controlled part of Tony of his thinking.

'It depends,' he replied bluntly.

Deeply annoyed, Loki ground his teeth. Only a human with an extraordinarily strong mind would resist the urge to affirm all of his questions with utter enthusiasm. This strained his nerves more than any dumb statement Thor had ever spoken out. The god wasn't used to a puppet which was disagreeing with him.

'If you had the choice between five and seven _billion_ human lives... who would you save?' the Trickster god breathed schemingly delightful. He elegantly sneaked round Tony and signalised him to take off the mask.

The metal plate, which covered Tony's face, whooshed upwards and revealed a face, absent-minded. Thoughtful wrinkles drew their lines on his forehead as the man in the metal-suit considered his answer. The logical answer was more than obvious, yet, deep inside, Tony was distinctly aware of what the Silver Tongue intended.

He compressed his jaws as mightfully as he could. After all, no answer was better than the answer Loki wanted to hear... right?

But the whole effort was in vain; the power which ruled his body was too intensive to overcome. There was no more fighting back. Tony broke the silence with a pressed 'Seven... billion...'

'The Metal Man has a beating heart and a keen mind, after all,' the black-haired laughed cheerfully, oh, how much he enjoyed playing with his subservients' lives. 'And that means you have to stop who?' he kept teasing.

'The.. The Avengers' Tony replied while he felt himself rebelling against his own words. But he was powerless. It was like he stood in front of a monitor, watching the movie of his life. As if this was nothing more than a dream; a terrible nightmare. With every passing second he lost more control over his actions and more importantly – his mind.

'Interesting. Even _you_ knew it from the very beginning. Now, let me help you explaining your role in this,' Loki said while he had already thought out the step after next in his mind.

Suddenly, all the glasses in the cabinets began to move: At first, they just vibrated lightly but then, some of them even fell out of their small cupboard and burst asunder at the collision with the rock-hard tiles. The walls, even the Stark Tower itself, seemed to stagger until a gigantic blue light pillar emerged from the tower's roof, shooting heavenwards. Scattered mighty flashes streaked through the sky, forming a circular tunnel.

Thousands of jet-ski-like vehicles dashed through the portal and spread out like an enormous wave above the broad streets of New York. People screamed and ran for their lives, fuelled by pure horror and panic - music to Loki's ears. This was his place. Above all, who refused to kneel before him. They simply didn't understand that their imaginary, ridiculous freedom was nothing more than an illness. Thus, humankind itself had become Midgard's ultimate disease. At least that's what crossed Loki's mind.

'Stark.. Stark!' a voice rustled out of the speaker in the Mark VII, 'Where are you? We need you here!'

'Sorry, Cap. Little busy with the running god-complex,' Tony momentarily stifled the call with his comrade while earning a hostile glance from Loki. Although the mind stone enabled him to control people like chessmen, suppressing their personality was practically impossible. That would cost him valuable time and effort, which he simply didn't have.

'Sir, a flying object is approaching the Stark Tower with tremendous speed,' Jarvis informed both men with a neutral voice. 'Can you identify it?' Tony inquired. 'I can exclude a plane or any other similarly large object. According to my calculations, it has to be just one person.'

'Of course _he_ had to come, too' Loki sighed in the know of the person's identity.

The billionaire, too, understood who was coming closer and whispered disillusioned, 'Goldilocks.'


End file.
